The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB), funded by the Dairy Farm Families of Wisconsin, coordinated a state-wide effort with Wisconsin cheesemakers to send almost 20,000 pounds of cheese to Houston to provide nutritious food for those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

“We are deeply saddened by the devastation facing Texas residents in the wake of Hurricane Harvey,” says Suzanne Fanning, WMMB VP of Marketing Communications. “Our Wisconsin cheesemakers and dairy farmers are inherently focused on helping others so we offered them a way to get involved. Their response to our call for donations was overwhelming – we were initially hoping to send 200 pounds of cheese, but the donations keep pouring in – now totaling almost 20,000 pounds!”

On September 1, WMMB employees, cheese company employees, and dairy farmers, packed a delivery truck in Madison with almost 20,000 pounds of smoked string cheese, cheese curds, muenster, parmesan, classic cheddar and more. The shipment also included 300 pounds of butter.

The delivery is expected to arrive at the Houston Food Bank next week. The Houston Food Bank is the nation’s largest food bank with distribution to its network of nearly 600 hunger relief charities in 18 Southeast Texas counties. Shipping and logistics support is being provided by Independent Procurement Alliance Program (IPAP), based in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Twenty six cheese companies from across the dairy state were involved in the relief effort. Participating companies include Agropur, Inc., Arena Cheese Inc., BelGioioso Cheese, Inc., Burnett Dairy Cooperative, Carr Valley Cheese Company Inc., Chula Vista Cheese Company, Decatur Dairy, Inc., Cow Candy, Ellsworth Co-op Creamery, Emmi Roth USA, Foremost Farms USA Cooperative, Grande Cheese, Grassland Dairy Products, Inc., LaClare Family Creamery, Marieke Gouda, Nasonville Dairy, Odyssey Feta, Pine River Pre-Pack Inc., Ponderosa Dairy Products, Sartori Company, Schreiber Foods, Inc., Swiss Valley Farms Co-op, Vern’s Cheese, Inc., Widmer’s Cheese Cellars, Winona Foods, and Zimmerman Cheese.

The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board is a nonprofit organization of dairy farmers that promotes the consumption of milk, cheese and other dairy products made in America’s Dairyland. Wisconsin produces 45% of the specialty cheese in the US and currently holds the titles for US Cheese Champion and World Cheese Champion. Wisconsin has the only Master Cheesemaker Program outside of Europe.